Question of the month #2: I'm all or nothing with food - help!

Question of the month #2: I'm all or nothing with food - help!

Chances are, if we’re taking an all-or-nothing approach to food, we are likely doing this in other parts of life as well. This isn’t just about food. It’s about LIFE and the intimate connection between the way you eat and the way you show up in the world.

As Geneen Roth so beautifully says, ‘Our relationship with food -- how, when, what and why we eat -- is a direct expression of our underlying feelings, thoughts and beliefs about ourselves. It has to do with stances we take that get reflected not only in our relationship with food, but in all our relationships. It just so happens that the relationship with food causes enough conflict, grief, shame and hurt that we're willing to look at it.’

Question of the month #1: I'm addicted to junk food. What do I do?

Question of the month #1: I'm addicted to junk food. What do I do?

The belief that food is addictive is deeply entrenched in diet culture. And I get it, when I myself was stuck in the disordered eating trenches, I genuinely thought that I was addicted to “junk food” and especially sugar (hello Ben & Jerry’s ice cream!) and that the only way out was complete abstinence. It felt like I could not allow myself even a tiny bite, because the second my taste buds got the sweet hit of sugar, all good intentions and willpower went out the window.

Everywhere we look, sugar and other kinds of “junk foods” are demonised. We are even told that sugar is more addictive than cocaine — I’m sure you've heard of those studies? Unfortunately, what happens when we buy into this story is that we become afraid of consuming these foods, and consequently label them as forbidden foods that are to be avoided at all cost. 

There’s a few things I want to say on this topic to help you reframe your "I'm a food addict” story. But before I do so, I’d like you to ponder on a few questions:

5 Tell signs that you have an unhealthy relationship with food

5 Tell signs that you have an unhealthy relationship with food

If you’ve landed here, I’m guessing it’s because you’re trying to figure out if your relationship with food is a healthy one.

Chances are that if you’re thinking about this, it probably isn’t as balanced as it could be and it’s affecting your life in some shape or form.

And I wouldn’t blame you. Toxic diet culture and disordered eating is everywhere - so much so that we don’t realise the cumulative effect it has on us over the years. It’s so normal for people to say things like “I’m having a cheat day ” or to follow up their pizza order with “I worked out this morning - I earned this.”, as if they needed to justify themselves.

Graduated From IIN, Now What? Your How-To Guide To Finding Clients, Price Yourself + More

Graduated From IIN, Now What? Your How-To Guide To Finding Clients, Price Yourself + More

Perhaps you have found your way to this blog post because you recently graduated from The Institute For Integrative Nutrition (IIN) and are starting to set up your own coaching business. Perhaps you are still studying at IIN or are considering doing the course at some point down the track. Whatever it may be, the goal of this post is to provide some guidance on how to set up a successful coaching business and to inspire you in carving out your own path.

11 Tips To Start A Successful Health Coaching Business

11 Tips To Start A Successful Health Coaching Business

I have been working as a Holistic Health Coach since 2016 and have worked with hundreds of people from around the world helping them take charge of their physical and mental health.

As I’m a strong advocate and supporter of the Institute For Integrative Nutrition - where I studied to get my coaching certification - I routinely get emails from prospective IIN health coaches asking how I’ve built Wholesome Stef and my health coaching business over the years.

And so I wanted to put together a resourceful and insightful blog post distilling some of my health coaching business knowledge that I have acquired of the years, in the hopes that it will help you find the confidence to create your own coaching business. There’s a lot of things that I did right early on, but there are also many things that I wish I would have known or done sooner, and I’ll be sharing all of those lessons with you. So, let’s dive in!

Body Image, Self-Acceptance And Small Boobs

Body Image, Self-Acceptance And Small Boobs

Hi from the itty bitty titty committee. 🙋🏼‍♀️

I feel like the conversation of small breasts often gets overlooked in the body positivity space. It’s all about embracing your weight, your curves, but what if you’ve got no curves and especially no breasts?!

Why don't people ever talk about small breast and the shaming of flat-chested women? For years, I struggled with this. I felt less of a woman because of my small breasts. Unfeminine. Unsexy. Boyish. Not like a proper adult.

The Story Of My Ex-Client Giorgina

The Story Of My Ex-Client Giorgina

When my journey with binge eating started is hard to define, I think I had a distorted relationship with food as long as I can remember. I only understood I had an eating disorder when I started working with Stef back in 2016. Let me backtrack a few years and take you through my personal journey, I'll try to be as concise as possible but bear with me.

Are You An Emotional Eater? Here are 7 Tell Signs

Are You An Emotional Eater? Here are 7 Tell Signs

ver had a fight with your boyfriend, or a frustrating day at work, then end up cozying up with a nice cold pint of Ben & Jerry’s at the end of the day? Do you reach out for food to feel better even when you weren’t even hungry? Is your first impulse always to open the refrigerator whenever you’re stressed, upset, angry, lonely, exhausted, or bored?

You may be an emotional eater. Meaning that you’re someone who uses food as a way to deal with feelings (typically negative ones) instead of to satisfy hunger. Instead of seeing food as what it is, i.e. something you consume for survival (like air and water), you misconstrue it into something else.

As I’ve touched on in previous posts, emotional eating is not a sin! When we become stressed, anxious, or worried, it’s only human to gravitate towards food to cope with our emotions. The problem arises when food is the only coping mechanism to dealing with emotions.

How COVID-19 May Be A Blessing In Disguise For Your Food Struggles

How COVID-19 May Be A Blessing In Disguise For Your Food Struggles

Back in March, I touched on emotional eating during COVID-19. People were just getting used to their new normal - lockdown normal - and they were struggling. Many people entered what I call the “Anything Goes Mindset”. You know, the one where all your food/exercise routines - good and bad - go out the window. Where you find yourself eating at weird times, skipping meals because your schedule is non-existent, giving up on exercise all together and raiding the fridge for comfort food. I noticed this shift in many of my clients and at the same time saw an uptick in coaching requests.

A Journaling Prompt For Eating Disorder Recovery

A Journaling Prompt For Eating Disorder Recovery

Writing can be incredibly therapeutic for someone recovering from an eating disorder or working through disordered eating struggles. In fact, starting up a journaling practice was one of the best things I ever did for my own recovery. After I shared this blog post with you on the three ways that journaling could change your life, I received many questions from you guys asking about specific journaling prompts that you can use. So that’s what I’m doing today. The exercise that I’m sharing with you today is incredibly powerful because it taps into the power of visualisation and allows you to imagine a life without food struggles. It’s one of my favourite exercises to do with my clients, and I hope that it will help/resonate with you. PS I’m sharing one of my lovely client’s journal snippets with her permission, as it’s beautifully written, almost brought me to tears and will hopefully be an inspiration to you, my dear reader.

The Three Ways Journaling Could Change Your Life

The Three Ways Journaling Could Change Your Life

In 2012, I was in the tight grip of an eating disorder. I started working with a Health Coach whom herself had a past with disordered eating, and it’s one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. The second best decision I made was to start journaling.

I don't believe I would have recovered from my own eating disorder had it not been for my journal. Since that very first day of journalling - 11th of March 2012 to be exact - I have filled countless of journals with my deepest, darkest, weirdest thoughts. I don’t know why I started journalling that day as no one had recommended it to me per se, but I think I was just intuitively drawn to it. Looking back at it, journalling truly was my saving grace. An eating disorder keeps the world small, you know. It ignores the big scary questions and creates a sharp focus in your life: your body weight and shape. But sitting there in front of those empty pages, tears in my eyes… it was the first time in a long time that I got truly honest with myself.

Phil's Health Struggles and Recovery from POTS

Phil's Health Struggles and Recovery from POTS

As most of you know, 2019 was a crazy year for Phil and I as he battled through some undiagnosed health issues. At one point, it got so bad that Phil wasn’t able to go to work anymore, let alone exercise or be part of any social activities. I distinctively remember one day in August where we tried to go for a short walk, and we had to turn around after 15 minutes because Phil was on the verge of fainting. It was the fist time that happened and we both went to sleep that night dumbfounded by the fact that we couldn’t even do the smallest of things anymore. Phil was left grappling with his new reality - a reality in which he went from healthy to unwell practically overnight and had no clue why. It affected e-v-e-r-y aspect of our lives, and it was one of the hardest things he’s every had to go through.

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